Mounting cap for aerosol valve



O M B 3 w H 5 .w, E R P INVENTORS ATTORNEYS.

WILLIAM J- DAWSON OWEN F. VAN BROCKLIN Oct. 4, 1966 w', J, DAWSON ETAL MOUNTING CAP FOR AEROSOL VALVE FIG. I.

FIG. 2.

United States Patent ice 3,276,638 MOUNTING CAP FOR AEROSOL VALVE William J. Dawson, Brentwood, and Owen F. Van Brocklin, Baldwin, N .Y., 'assignors to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Coun., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Nov. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 412,408 Claims. (Cl. ZZZ-402.16)

The present invention relates to aerosol valves and more particularly to the mounting cap for supporting such a valve and mounting it in an opening in a container to provide a closure therefor.

Most aerosol valves now in general use consist of a unit comprising a mounting cap member which supports a valve housing having therein a valve member which seats against a sealing washer. The cap member is usually cup-shaped with the outer wall of the cup formed with a peripheral flange for attachment to a container and a bottom wall formed with a reentrant inverted cupshaped pedestal which supports the valve housing and has an opening in its base through which projects a valve stem. After the elements of an aerosol valve are assembled as a unit, the units are tested for fluid tightness, then crimped onto the container, after the active ingredients are placed therein, and the pressurizing agent is added either before crimping the unit onto the container where the container is to be cold filled or after the crimping operation where the container is to be pressure filled.

Among the objects of the invention are to overcome certain problems and deficiencies existing in the conventi-onal types of cap members and to achieve various advantages thereover, for example:

(a) To provide a more dependable seal between the bottom of the cap and the gasket of an assembling machine at a test station thereof when testing the fluid tightness of the valve;

(b) To aid in centering an aerosol valve unit in the opening of a container preparatory to crimping the unit onto said container;

(c) To provide for better sealing of a pressure head on the pedestal when pressure filling the container;

(d) To prevent or reduce downward distortion of the pedestal to a minimum during pressuring filling, and

(e) To provide a cap which because of its novel form is stronger and less likely to dome at the base due to pressure buildup within the container, after filling, when being tested in a hot water bath.

The specific structure of the mounting cap for accomplishing the foregoing and other objects of our invention, not specifically enumerated, will be readily understood from the detailed description which follows when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diametrical section of the mounting cap, embodying the invention, prior to assembling the valve parts therein;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the mounting cap shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diametrical section of a testing station whereat the tightness of the aerosol valve unit is pressure tested, the unit being shown in elevation;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of an aerosol valve unit in the course of being mounted in the opening of a container and illustrating the self-centering characteristic of the unit;

FIG. 5 is a diametrical section of an aerosol valve unit embodying the invention mounted on a container and the relationship of a filling head applied thereto when the container is being pressure filled.

3,276,638 Patented Oct. 4, 1966 Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the mounting cap which is designated as a whole by the reference numeral 10 may be said to consist of a cup-shaped member 11 having a peripheral wall 12 which is substantially cylindrical and terminates at its outer end in a substantially semicircular annular flange 13 and with a reentrant inverted cup-shaped portion 14 extending into the cup-shaped member 11 from the bottom wall of 15 thereof. The inverted cup-shaped portion which is sometimes referred to as a pedestal may have an axial dimension as desired and has a peripheral wall 16 which is radially spaced from the peripheral wall 12, a bottom wall 17 formed with a central perforation 18 and with a lip flange 19 which extends downwardly and radially outwardly. The bottom wall 15 of the cup-shaped member 11 tapers downwardly and radially inwardly and forms with the lip flange 19 a reinforcing ridge-like rib 20. The angularity of the tapered bottom wall 15 and the lip flange 19 may vary as desired but it is preferable that the bottom wall 15 should have a radial dimension a least equal to one half of the distance between the peripheral walls 12 and 16 and form with an imaginary plane extending across the crown of the rib 20 an angle x of between 15 and 30 and with the lip flange 19 an angle y suflicient to substantially reinforce the bottom of the cap member. We have ascertained that the angle x should be approximat-ely 20 and the angle y approximately 60. The cupshaped member 11 may be formed of any suitable sheet material by stamping or drawing operations well known in the art.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 to 5 of the drawing, the

mounting cap- 10 is shown as mounted on and supporting the valve elements of a valve which may be of any desired construction and provide an aerosol valve assembly. As specifically shown in FIG. 5, the valve elements and their relationship to the mounting cap are analogous to those disclosed and forming the subject matter of a copending application of Joseph Briechle, Serial No. 225,087, filed September 20, 1962, now Patent No. 3,158,298 and consists of a tubular housing 21 having mounted in the chamber thereof a sealing gasket 22, a discharge valve 23 having a hollow valve stem 23a and a spring 24 for biasing the valve 23 into sealing engagement with the underside of the gasket 22. The tubular housing has an external flange or enlargement 25 formed with circumferentially spaced axially extending ribs, the upper ends of which form a castellated top on the valve housing and it is around said flange or enlargement 25 that the inverted cup-shaped portion 14 engages by the bottom wall 17 thereof seating over the castellated top of the valve housing and the side wall 16 thereof being swaged, staked or crimped over the lower edge of the enlargement as shown at 26 with the valve stem 23 slidably extending through the sealing gasket 22 and freely movable through the opening 18. The valve assembly unit is also shown as provided with a dip tube 27 and an operating button or actuator 28.

In FIG. 3 the valve assembly unit as above described is shown in elevation in the course of being tested for fluid tightness of the assembled valve in which operation the valve assembly unit is fed to a testing station of an assembly machine having a gasket 29 into the hole of which the conical bottom wall 15 of the cap member seats and assures a dependable seal when a force F is applied to the flange 13 and fluid pressure is applied upwardly against the bottom of the mounting cap as indicated by the arrows and the legend pressure.

In FIG. 4 there is depicted the relationship of the valve assembly unit when placed in the opening in the top of a container 30 on the filling line conveyor (not shown) to illustration how the valve unit will be self centering and locate itself in the opening in the event that the unit originally is not properly positioned in the container. Here again the conical bottom wall 15 of the cap member will guide the unit to facilitate the crimping or roll seaming of the valve unit onto the container as shown completed at FIG. 5.

In the course of securing the mounting cap 10 onto the housing flange 25 and crimping the valve assembly unit onto the container 30, the angles x and y will be somewhat altered as will also be the shape of the peripheral wall 12a of the cap member (FIG. but these changes in shape of the angles x and y are not sufficient to affect the various advantages of the mounting cap as disclosed.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the valve assembly unit illustrated is of the fast pressure filll type disclosed and claimed in the aforementioned Patent No. 3,158,298, i.e., an assembly unit through which the propellant is charged into the container so as to flow between the inverted reentrant cup-shaped portion 14 and the tubular housing 21 through the castellated top of said housing and the axial grooves or spaces in the external flange or enlargement 25. In pressure filling a container provided with such valve assembly unit, a pressure filling head 31 of larger diameter than the pedestal 14 and having a packing ring 32 held onto the filling head 31 in any suitable manner, such as by a flanged sleeve 33, is positioned over said pedestal to make a fluid-tight seal therewith and a low boiling point propellant such as Freon under high pressure is applied to such filling head. Part of the propellant will initially enter through the discharge opening (not shown) in the operating button 28, pass through the valve stem 23a and orifice 23b therein to exert an opening force on the discharge valve 23 to instantaneously open said valve and permit a limited quantity of propellant'to enter the valve chamber within the tubular housing 21 and from there pass through the dip tube 27 into the container 30. Simultaneously with the flow of fluid propellant through the valve stem 23a, the propellant will flow through the annular space between the boundary of the central perforation 18 in the pedestal and the valve stem to act against the exposed inner central portion of the sealing gasket 22 andoperate to axially move said gasket bodily within the tubular housing out of contact with the top flange 17 of the pedestal to expose the grooves in the castellated top of the housing and the spaces between the ribs on the exterior of the housing which communicate with the grooves in the castellated top to provide a flow path for the propellant through said grooves into the container 30 as indicated by the arrows. By making the annular groove between the pedestal and the outer wall of the cap member sufficiently deep, better sealing of the filling head on the pedestal is assured notwithstanding slight variations in the height of the container in relation to such filling head. Also, by virtue of the rib 20 in the bottom wall of the mounting cap, the latter is reinforced and will prevent or reduce to a minimum downward distortion of the pedestal during pressure filling. After aerosol containers are filled on a commercial filling line, the pressure within the containers at room temperature is about 40 p.s.i. and in order to make certain that no potential leaks exist, the valve, the container, and the integrity of the cap to the container at the crimp therebetween, the containers are tested under a pressure of 120 p.s.i. Such increased pressure is obtained by heating the container and its contents to 150 F. in a hot water bath. By virtue of the reinforcing rib 20 which substantially strengthens the container cap, said cap is less likely to dome outwardly due to pressure buildup within the container while in the hot water bath.

From the foregoing detailed description, it will be manifest that the mounting cap and the combination of the assembled cap, valve assembly unit and container constitute substantial improvements over prior analogous devices.

Although the foregoing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings describes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that changes in details of the construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to within the range of mechanical and engineering skill without departing from the spirit of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What we claim is:

1. A mounting cap for an aerosol valve assembly which mounting cap prior to having the valve parts assembled therewith, comprises a cup-shaped member having a reentrant inverted cup-shaped portion extending into the cup-shaped member from the bottom wall thereof in radially spaced relation to the peripheral side wall of the cup-shaped member and said bottom wall having a portion that tapers downwardly and radially inwardly from the inner end of said peripheral side wall.

2. A mounting cap according to claim 1, wherein the tapered wall portion of the bottom wall has a radial dimension which is at least half the radial distance between the peripheral side wall of the cup-shaped member and the peripheral side wall of the reentrant inverted cupshaped portion.

3. A mounting cap according to claim 1, wherein the tapered wall portion of the bottom wall forms with said peripheral side wall an interior angle of at least 4. A mounting cap according to claim 1, wherein the tapered wall portion of the bottom wall forms with said peripheral side wall an interior angle of at least 105 and has a radial dimension which is at least half the radial distance between the peripheral side wall of the cup-shaped member and peripheral side wall of the reentrant inverted cup-shaped portion.

5. A mounting cap according to claim 1, wherein the radially inner end of said tapered wall portion of the bottom wall forms with the rim of the inverted cupshaped portion, a reinforcing rib.

6. A mounting cap according to claim 5, wherein the rim of the inverted cup-shaped portion is on a lip flange which extends downwardly and radially outwardly.

7. An aerosol valve assembly unit comprising a cupshaped mounting cap having a re-entrant inverted cupshaped portion extending from the bottom wall in radially spaced relation to the peripheral side wall of the cap, said reentrant inverted cup-shaped portion supporting the valve operating parts and said bottom wall being tapered downwardly and radially inwardly from the inner end of said peripheral side wall of the mounting cap.

8. An aerosol valve assembly unit according to claim 7, wherein the inner end of said tapered bottom wall is of substantially smaller diameter than the peripheral side wall and has a radial dimension which is at least half the radial distance between the peripheral side wall of the cap and the side wall of the reentrant inverted cup-shaped portion.

9. An aerosol valve assembly unit according to claim 7, wherein the radially inner end of said tapered bottom wall forms with the peripheral side wall of the inverted cup portion, a reinforcing ridge-like rib.

10. An aerosol valve assembly unit according to claim 9, wherein the inverted cup-shaped portion has a lip flange which extends downwardly and radially outwardly and the reinforcing ridge-like rib is formed by the junction of the tapered wall of the bottom of the cap memher and the rim of the lip flange.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,837,375 6/1958 Eiford et a1. 3,107,827 10/1963 Burmeister 222-394 3,174,692 3/ 1965 Green. 3,184,118 5/1965 Webster.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

1. A MOUNTING CAP FOR AN AEROSOL VALVE ASSEMBLY WHICH MOUNTING CAP PRIOR TO HAVING THE VALVE PARTS ASSEMBLED THEREWITH, COMPRISES A CUP-SHAPED MEMBER HAVING A REENTRANT INVERTED CUP-SHAPED PORTION EXTENDING INTO THE CUP-SHAPED MEMBER FROM THE BOTTOM WALL THEREOF IN RADIALLY SPACED RELATION TO THE PERIPHERAL SIDE WALL OF THE CUP-SHAPED MEMBER AND SAID BOTTOM WALL HAVING A PORTION THAT TAPERS DOWNWARDLY AND RADIALLY INWARDLY FROM THE INNER END OF SAID PERIPHERAL SIDE WALL. 